Received phone call 1/11 from Daniel Goldstein, attorney with Security Title Services, 239-440-3968 purporting to have a check for $26,595 for purchase of timeshare in Branson, MO. I needed to either accept or decline the offer. (This price is at least double what a legitimate offer would be, which makes it attractive but suspicious.)
When challenged with How do I know this is legitimate? He provided the name (Thomas Phillips) and phone number (863-677-6302) of the Owner Services Department who had contacted him. He was very persistent that I call this specific person & number. When asked what was the process and what would be my cost he avoided the cost issue, repeated the accept or decline request, said there would be a deed and title transfer initiated by a recorded audio phone call.
According to WhitePages.com, his phone number belongs to Security Title and Trust, Inc. (a similar but different name). The phone number he provided for the resort representative belongs to another person in FL, not to the specified resort. (Contact with the authentic resort customer service department verified that they had no representatives in FL and that they would not do business in this manner.)
Although their website claims that they had been in business since they were unknown to the BBB.in authentic sales, there is no check sitting on someone's desk until an offer is made and accepted and the check would be presented at the closing. Although not necessarily definitive, his wording and how he put together the story were not at all consistent with what would be expected from either an attorney or a real estate agent. My intuition is that he wanted to present an offer too good to refuse and go from there.
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